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British comedian Russell Howard and his mom visit Naples to ask: Why are you so happy?

Naples Daily News
Published 12:00 a.m. ET June 3, 2016

British comedian Russell Howard (right) and his mother, Ninette, take a tour of downtown Naples with Mayor Bill Barnett. (Courtesy City of Naples)(Photo: Staff)

British comedian best known for his television show 'Russell Howard's Good News', Russell Howard poses for a portrait, on Monday, June 29, 2015 in New York. (Photo by Dan Hallman/Invision/AP) (Photo: Dan Hallman)

The email came to Mayor Bill Barnett's inbox on May 6. A British film crew was putting together a new travel series for Comedy Central in the United Kingdom.

The series stars Russell Howard, a British comedian, and his mom. As part of their trip to the U.S., they wanted to visit Naples and meet the mayor.

Barnett's first thought: Is this legit?

'We get all kinds of strange requests and emails,' Barnett said.

The email checked out, and on Friday, Barnett met Howard and his mom, Ninette, at City Hall and Barnett gave them a brief tour of downtown. They walked to the Starbucks on Fifth Avenue South to get a cup of tea for Ninette.

Howard and his crew, who declined to speak to the Daily News, planned to travel around Naples on Friday to ask residents the question.

They asked Barnett what about Naples makes him happy. His answer? His wife. His dog. And living in Naples for 43 years.

'The question would be better as, what would make me unhappy?' Barnett said.

On Saturday at sunset, Barnett will read a proclamation at the Naples Pier and give each of the Howards a key to the city and a pier plank.

Barnett said the travel show would be 'good PR' for the city.

'Lets hope it is anyway,' he said.

In his office Friday, Barnett played a clip of Howard's stand-up. Howard starts to talk about a prank he played on his mom, in which he took her phone and replaced the old listings in her contacts with celebrity names.

'This is great,' Barnett says.

The bit continues, and Howard explains the moment when his mom received her first phone call after the prank was done.